Meet The Rev. Canon Harlon L. Dalton

  Posted on January 2, 2024  by admin  No comments

The Rev. Canon Harlon L. Dalton describes himself as “an African-American male child of God and of the ‘60’s.” A graduate of Harvard College (magna cum laude) and Yale Law School, his first career was as a lawyer and law professor. He is a Professor of Law, Emeritus, at Yale Law School, from which he retired in 2010. From 2006-2010, he also served on the faculty of Yale Divinity School, as an Adjunct Professor of Law and Religion.
In the mid-1990’s, Canon Dalton responded to an insistent call to Holy Orders. He was ordained in 2002. For the rest of that decade he served as a part-time Associate Rector of the Episcopal Church of St. Paul and St. James in New Haven, CT, while continuing to profess law at Yale. From 2010-2011 he served as Interim Rector at St. Ann’s in Old Lyme. From 2011-2012 he served on Diocesan staff as Acting Canon for Mission Leadership. From 2012 – 2015 he served as Priest-in- Charge at Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford, CT. He then retired from active ordained ministry.
He remained retired until he made the mistake of having coffee with Bishop Ian Douglas, who invited him to return to St. Paul and St. James, where he served as Priest-in-Charge for three years. In November 2021, he retired again, this time for good, until he made the mistake of having coffee with Bishop Jeffrey Mello, who asked him to consider serving as Interim Canon for Mission Advocacy, Racial Justice, & Reconciliation.
Throughout his ordained ministry, Canon Dalton has “[taken his] share in the councils of the Church,” most recently by serving on the Bishop Transition Committee, and by serving as an Honorary Canon of Christ Church Cathedral.
He is the author of Racial Healing (Doubleday 1995) (a New York Times “notable book of the year”) and an editor of AIDS and the Law (Yale Press 1987) and AIDS Law Today (Yale Press 1993). He has also authored many articles, including “AIDS in Blackface,” published in DAEDALUS (the Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences) in 1989. From 1989-1993 he served on the National Commission on AIDS.
His avocations are many, including watching birds and making music. Over the past two decades he has taken up the double bass, bass clarinet, trombone and euphonium.